One Exception
by SomewhereElse31
Summary: Zach Goode loves boxing, not only for the power he feels when his opponents fall, but because he knows he can protect his family. When the one person he hates challenges him to a match, he agrees whole-heartedly. Zach is not jealous of anything in Josh Abrams' life; or so he thought. Rated T for language and refrences to alcohol and drugs. AU and slight OOC
1. Chapter 1

The slap of his glove against the punching bag would have startled someone who wasn't used to it. Being all alone in the gym; he didn't have to worry about that. He could feel the vibrations rip through his muscles and soothe his mind. Thoughts drifted away as fast as the dim light of the small lamp on the low desk in the corner next to the heavy door. The sun was setting and he knew he would soon be in the dark; but he was okay with that. He needed to train, he needed to clear his mind, let out some steam.

Zach Goode had always had a tough home life. With a mother who spent most of her time working, and a father who came home drunk or high every night, he was his little brother's main care taker. He made sure he always had his clothes for school ready the night before, told him to brush his teeth, made his lunch, and walked him to his elementary school every morning. Zach didn't mind taking care of Luke, he wanted him to have more support than he had ever had, but he sometimes wished he had time to be a teenager, to have fun with friends on the weekends and find a decent girlfriend, but those thoughts were always interrupted by images of his true love: boxing.

He loved the way the ring smelled each time he walked into his small, rusty old gym, the energy that surged through his whole body and mind as he laced up his gloves, and mostly the stress he could feel himself sweating away with each small step and launch of his fist into the ratty, blue punching bag that hung from the ceiling.

It had all started when Luke was born. Having two parents busy with a newborn and living in New York City, Zach found himself a ten year old riding the subway alone, going to school alone, and basically living...alone. As soon as Luke could walk his mom had taken on another job at night to support the family as his dad drank his paychecks away. Zach isn't understand why his min didn't just leave him, but he didn't want to make things more complicated than they already were, so he kept his mouth shut and just took care of Luke without being asked to. If he didn't, nobody would. It wasn't like Luke wasn't grateful, Zach knew he was. Luke was smart and not athletic at all, and in a way Zach admired that.

He had been walking home one day, going slower than normal. He didn't want to go home and hear Luke cry and didn't want to see the exhaustion on his mother's face as she cleaned, cooked and cradled Luke. They didn't live in a good part of Queens, so it really wasn't a good idea for him to be walking all alone, but nothing had happened to him before so he didn't think twice every day about it.

Strange noises filled his ears as he passed the small grocery about three blocks from his building, and he thought they were coming from around its corner. Being ten and curious, he decided to peak around and look.

Blood covered the ground as a tall and thick man stood over another. Zach could tear his eyes off of the huge gash on the lip of the guy on the cold, snow covered concrete, obviously unconscious. Minutes seemed to pass as the first man kept punching the guy on the ground as hard as he could. He suddenly stopped and saw Zach, wide eyed and white faced.

"Hey! You!" the big guy shouted, scaring Zach.

He tried to say something in his defense as to why he had seen what he had, but his pulse was pounding and he couldn't hear any thoughts his brain was producing.

"Hey kid, you don't tell anyone what you saw and I'll give you free boxing practice, you hear me?" the booming, deep voice of the guy rang in his ears and he knew he just had to agree and get out of there.

So he shook his head as he cautiously stepped back, holding the strap of his backpack for dear life.

"Come to Michael Torri's Boxing Ring tomorrow after school and I will explain everything, you understand? It's just two blocks east," the guy said, slower and calmer this time.

Zach only nodded quickly as he turned and ran.

...

"You can't keep up with me Goode!"

"I will kick your ass!"

The voice rang in his mind as he jabbed the air over and over again. The voice belonged to Josh Abrams, whom he absolutely loathed. Ever since he could remember, Josh had always tried to beat him in everything they did.

Zach's father, Michael Goode, had worked for the Abrams Family Pharmacy for a while. A loyal employee, Michael enjoyed perks and pay raises often. Once he got married and had Zach, he would bring his son to the pharmacy every once in a while to play with Josh. However, they just couldn't get along, and then his father started to drink and drink and drink, and was fired. All ties with the Abrams' and the pharmacy were cut off, and Josh hated Zach more than ever.

Zach knew he was a better person than Josh. Even with a messed up home life when Josh had a stable family, he was smarter and got better grades, he was nicer and didn't stab people in the back. Zach never envied Josh. Never.

Except for one thing, but he didn't know that yet.

...

It was no surprise that Josh came running after Zach that autumn day after school as he walked to the subway station, Josh usually liked to have a crowd when he talked to Zach. Zach had gotten used to it, but something stirred in him that day. His mind raced faster, his blood was hotter as it sped through his body, his fingers we're jittery and he couldn't focus on anything but seeing the ring and the release of his punches in his mind. There was no way he was going to deal with Josh and his crap that day, not with all the stress of not knowing who would be home for Luke, what they were going to eat or what mood his parents would be in, plus the pulse running through his veins that he just had to let out.

"Hey Goode!" Josh called out after him, his ass-hole friends behind him, wondering, waiting and watching; as were most of the kids in the lot.

Zach turned around but didn't say anything. He was already sick of Josh's shit. He just wanted to get his brother and go to the gym. Nothing else was as important to him at the moment, not even trying to get Josh to respect him for once.

"What?" Josh sauntered closer and closer to him. "No hello back?"

"I don't have time for this Abrams," Zach sighed, turned and tried to walk away.

"Have to go babysit Goode? What? Your half ass father can't afford a real babysitter? Huh?"

He could hear Josh and his friends snickering like 12 tear old girls behind him, and as much as he wanted to ignore them, be the bigger person and walk away, he knew Josh was right.

Before he knew it he was running back and throwing a punch in Josh's direction.

Neither of them was sure of what came next but as Josh dodged Zach's punch, they both heard a voice.

"Stop it Josh!"

Something in Josh must have changed, because he took many large steps back, away from a red faced Zach and decided to continue the fight with words.

"Whoa there Goode, you think you can take me?" he snickered again, almost sending Zach hurdling at him again, but Zach knew that if he did he would really hit him this time and surely get expelled.

Zach breathed for a moment before responding, he was ashamed and embarrassed not only because he let Josh get in his head, but because Josh had dodged his punch. He had been doing boxing for seven years and thought he could defend himself.

"I could take you any day Abrams," He said, almost a whisper.

This made a loud laugh escape Josh's lips, as he leaned back and let himself irritate his enemy even more.

"Seriously Josh cut it out," the same voice they had heard earlier said, stepping closer to Josh and placing her hand on his arm.

It was only then that Zach noticed her. At first he didn't see anything special about her, she wasn't tall but wasn't short, she was not drop dead gorgeous but definitely wasn't ugly by any means. She met his eyes for a brief second before she looked back at Josh, who had wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"You think you can handle me Goode? How about you and me, after the Melwood game, Brig's Ring on Forks Street. I'll show you how much better training I've gotten than you," Josh smirked, knowing Zach couldn't refuse, and for the second time that day, he was right.

Zach knew it was a horrible idea to agree to Josh's proposal, especially since word would get around school about the match and flocks of their class mates would flood the big Brig's Ring after the biggest football game of their high school year. But Zach just couldn't refuse. He had to agree to it or Josh would torment him forever.

"You work at your family's pharmacy?" Zach asked him from across the lot.

Confusion filled Josh's and all his friend's faces. "Yeah? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Bring some drugs, every other guy I've beaten has."

And with that he turned, shoved his hands in his pockets, smiled and headed to get Luke.

...

After the initial adrenaline had worn off in the subway, Zach cursed himself and what he had gotten himself into. Josh was a boxer too and trained at an elite ring that produced only the best. He knew he would be a heavy underdog and might not have the skills to beat him. But he knew he had to, and if he didn't Josh would continue to torment him for the rest of his life.

So he dropped Luke off at their apartment, equipped him with the home phone and the list of emergency contacts, made himself a sandwich and headed for Michael Torri's Boxing Ring.

...

It was two in the morning before his phone buzzed on the bench beside the ring. Zach had been so focused on hitting the punching bag harder than he ever had and punching faster that time slipped away and was the last of his worries. He wanted to beat Josh so badly that he couldn't focus on anything else except his glove making contact with Josh's face. That was motivation enough.

Thoughts of his reality flooded back into his mind when he sat down on the bench and looked at the text from his mom:

Where are you? Please come home.

Zach sighed, feeling guilty. He didn't want his mom to worry about him, that's initially why he first stepped into the gym the day after he saw the fight when he was ten. The big guy, whose name was Greg, had promised Zach on that very first day that if anyone would ever try to hurt him or his family, Zach would be able to fight back. He wanted to protect his mom and Luke, but he also fell in love with it.

So he packed up his stuff and walked back into the cool, dark night, wishing it was the next afternoon so he could punch the shit out of Josh Abrams' face that he imagined on that old blue punching bag that had been hanging from the same spot on the ceiling since the day he walked in.


	2. Chapter 2

Sleep lingered in his eyes the next morning as Zach walked the halls towards his first class. He was usually less than alert the morning after he stayed at the ring late, but when he got home he felt the need to check on Luke as he slept. Walking into the blue room covered in everything Spider-Man imaginable, Zach noticed his little brother's face looked red. He tried to be silent as he kneeled down next to his bed and place his hand on Luke's forehead, checking his temperature. He was burning up, meaning he was sick. Zach sighed; he really didn't have time to worry about Luke. He got up anyways and went to his parents' bedroom down the small hall.

"Hey mom, I'm home," he had whispered into the crack in the door, praying he wouldn't wake his father.

"Ok honey," she whispered back, her voice soft and loving.

"I think Luke is sick," Zach sighed again. "I just checked his forehead and I think he's got a temperature."

He listened to his mother shifting out of the bed before the door slowly creaked open.

"I'll go see," she said.

"Alright," he said as she passed him. "Night mom."

She turned around at Luke's door and smiled a weary smile. Zach knew it was forced. He knew she was tired; physically and emotionlessly.

"Night honey, thanks for taking such good care of your brother. I appreciate it."

Even though her eyes drooped and the bags under them were a deep shade of purple, Zach knew she meant it. That was all the satisfaction he needed.

* * *

The busy halls were starting to give him a headache. The constant hustling and chatter was annoying him more than usual. He didn't really talk to any of these people, he normally kept to himself. Of course, Zach had friends, but only a select few. Trust was a big part of his relationships, and he definitely did not going around trusting everyone.

He felt especially drowsy that morning and wasn't paying good attention to everyone in the hallway, but something, rather, someone, caught his attention. It was a girl with light brown hair that covered almost her full face as she kept her head down and her books clung to her chest. She was walking briskly and dodging the crowd with ease, obviously trying to get somewhere. Zach knew class didn't start for another ten minutes, so he was curious as to where she was headed. His eyes followed her as she passed him. Just then, right as her body was parallel to his, he noticed a bright red hand print on her right cheek. His eyes scanned the mark, fresh on her skin, and the silent tears that flowed over it. He suddenly felt sick. It was ironic wasn't it? That he could leave marks like that on other people and they could do the same but when he saw it on this mystery girl his throat ran dry?

He was so confused he lost her in the crowd.

* * *

"Dude, you are seriously fucked up if you think challenging Josh Abrams was a good idea," his friend Grant chuckled as the two sat down at their lunch table. Due to his schedule, Zach only had lunch with Grant.

"Thank you for the love and support man," Zach replied, sarcasm dripping in his voice. "I really appreciate it."

"I'm just sayin," Grant shrugged, cracking open his coke. "He's a tool, but that dude can fight."

Zach gave a small laugh. "You don't think I know that?"

Grant leaned over the table across from his friend. "Then why'd you do it idiot?"

Zach repeated the action. "Because I'm just as good as him."

Grant suddenly smiled. "True, true," he admitted in between sips. "Just be careful though, Abrams is not just physical. He can throw words at you that hurt."

"Trust me I know that," Zach replied.

Grant huffed. "Freshmen year he told me my little twin sister looks like a man. Do you think Liz does?"

Zach suppressed a laugh. "No Grant, Liz does not look like a man."

"He's such a dumb ass," Grant muttered, taking a bite of his cheeseburger.

"That is the truth," Zach agreed.

Grant finished chewing before he continued. "Just so you know, he's already told just about everyone. I wouldn't be surprised to see a crowd of these fine civilians waiting at the ring."

"Great," Zach sighed. "Just what I need, Abram's fan base there."

"Nah, don't think of it that way," Grant said nonchalantly. "Imagine it as Josh as the home team and you as the visiting team. You have fans somewhere else, they just don't want to make the trip."

Zach rolled his eyes at his friend. "Gee thanks Grant. Again, you never fail to make me feel good. I am so surprised why you don't have a girlfriend."

"Hey now, I could have had one if Bex Baxter didn't turn me down so many times. But let's not get into that. No problem by the way, on being such a good friend," Grant smiled, chewing a bite of fries. "It's my job right?"

"Whatever you say man," Zach compromised. "At least I have two weeks."

"What did Gregg say about it?" Grant asked.

Zach sighed and shrugged, finally picking up his cheeseburger. "He wasn't there yesterday when I got to the ring. I guess I'll have to tell him today."

Grant wondered why Zach's eyes suddenly focused on something across the cafeteria from them. He didn't over think the issue however. He knew Zach was a looker, always noticing everything and everyone around him. It was a great quality to possess when living in New York, but grant knew he was too lazy to ever be that observant. So he had gotten used to Zach's comments on what people were wearing, where classrooms were and who was hooking up with who.

After a few minutes of eating, Grant glanced up at his best friend. Zach's eyes were still deep across the room. Curiosity got the better of him and Grant turned in the same direction.

"What are you looking at dude?" He asked as he searched the area for any imperfections.

"We'll this morning as I was walking to Townsend's class I saw a girl with a grey hoodie on and a red slap mark on her cheek," Zach suddenly let out. "It's that girl over there." He pointed in the direction they were looking.

Grant then saw a girl with a bright smile outlined in cherry red lips. Her eyes were dark though, they balanced out her innocent looking face. Her skin looked flawless, but Grant knew from having a twin sister that it was probably covered in layers of makeup. Her hair draped over her shoulders perfectly, flowing effortlessly. She was laughing, occasionally tilting her head back with ease, as if she didn't have a care in the world.

"She doesn't look like she has a slap mark to me," Grant turned back to his friend. "Are you sure you saw her this morning?"

"Yeah," Zach said quietly, still looking at the girl but with newfound confusion written on his face.

Grant turned around one more time to glance at her, who was sitting on Josh Abrams' lap. "She looks pretty cozy with Abrams to me."

"Yeah," Zach repeated, still not tearing his eyes away from her.

"Dude," Grant said to him, "stop staring at her, I'm sure Abrams will kick your ass for doing so."

"I just know it was her earlier Grant," Zach pleaded, finally looking away.

"Girls are like that man," Grant wined. "One minute they're happy and the next they want to rip your face off. What can you do?"

"It's just weird," Zach took a few fires to eat.

"Yeah, well you're weird," Grant replied and chuckled at his horrendously lame attempt at a comeback.

"I've got to get to chemistry," Zach chuckled too and stood to take his tray to the trash.

"Try not to blow the school up," Grant said with a mouth full of fries.

Zach grabbed his books, steadily holding the tray with one hand. "No promises."

* * *

It wasn't until she reached the classroom that she felt her stomach turn. Was she really nervous about moving classes? She had done it before...

She walked up to the teacher, an old family friend, Joe Solomon.

"Hey Mr. Solomon," she smiled warmly, almost wincing.

He peered at her over his bifocals. "Ah! Miss Morgan, how lovely it is to see you in this class. You will need a lab partner, but there is only one available because it is the middle of the semester."

"That's fine sir," she replied.

"Good," he nodded. "Then you can take that seat in the very far right corner."

"Thank you," she said, and forced a smile again.

She stopped when she reached the table, finding her new chemistry partner-in-crime deep within a worksheet. She cleared her throat, trying to get his attention. He looked up suddenly, looking paranoid.

"Hi," she said reluctantly. "I'm Cammie Morgan, I'm your new lab partner."

She stuck out her hand for him to shake, but he just looked at her with a very confused expression, she could also see hints of surprise in his deep green eyes too.

"Uh, what happened to Bex Baxter?" He said in a strong voice that sent chills down her spine. She was a little scared of him. He wasn't too big or tall, but he looked really muscular, and fit.

"Oh," she said quickly, "she had to change her schedule so she was moved out of this block."

He didn't reply, just nodded at her and turned back to the front of the room, where Mr. Solomon was staring the lesson.

He couldn't focus on his favorite teacher, though. The girl with the slap mark on her cheek that morning, the same one who was princess happy-go-lucky at lunch, was now the person he had to spend an hour and a half with every day. He really didn't know how to feel about that.

She on the other hand, felt nervous. Just plain nervous. The look he had given her when she had introduced herself confused her. Nobody had ever looked at her like that before. He hasn't even shaken her hand, or introduced himself back. He just gave her the weirdest look, his eyes unreadable. She had the sudden strong desire to be courageous and ask for his name. She had to admit that this guy scared and confused her at the same time.

She leaned towards him just a little and whispered, "Hey, you didn't tell me your name."

His eyes found hers just then, but they were still unreadable. "Zach Goode." He said emotionlessly.


	3. Chapter 3

"So Bex moved out of this block and you moved in?" Zach asked Cammie as they started their experiment for the day.

She nodded and measured a blue chemical in a test tube.

Silence overtook them before he couldn't stand it anymore. "Why'd you move classes?"

She stopped stirring the new mixture in their beaker and looked up at him. "I wanted to take more art classes and they only way I could was to move blocks in chemistry."

"Nice," he commented, going back to the worksheet that held their instructions. He checked the next step and then turned back to her.

"Yeah," she replied awkwardly, still looking him in the eyes. She suddenly laughed.

"What's so funny?" he asked, confused.

"Nothing—it's just that your eye goggles make your eyes look really big…like fish," she chuckled as she blushed.

He let out a small laugh. "Ditto."

She blushed even more and absentmindedly re-adjusted the large goggles on her face before she quickly returned to the mixture that was now a deep shade of green.

"So what's our next step?" she asked him, searching for the next ingredient.

"Stir NaCl into mixture for 30 seconds before pouring into baking soda mixture," Zach read straight from the paper.

"Ok," Cammie said, doing what the instructions said.

They both watched as Cammie poured in the salt and stirred and then finished the step by adding it to the baking soda.

Zach wrote down the things that the worksheet needed, like the amount of the total mixture and its final color, while Cammie sat and waited for him to finish. They were the first pair to get the experiment done and they still had half an hour of class left. Her eyes grazed over the back of people's heads sitting before them until she reached Zach. The first thing she saw that she hadn't seen before was the yellow and purple bruises on his knuckles as he wrote.

"Have we met before?" she asked him with a questioning look on her porcelain face.

He finished writing just in time to look at her as if she were crazy. Maybe she was, she sure felt like it today.

"No," he lightly chuckled, wondering what this girl could be thinking.

She turned away and twirled their mixture in her hand. "Oh, it's just you…never mind."

Zach nodded and got up to give Mr. Solomon their paper.

"Oh!" Cammie said to him as he sat back down again. "You're the guy who is fighting Josh Abrams."

Zach turned away from her and looked out the window. "Yep, that's me," he said, looking back down to his hands again. "Does the whole school know by now?"

"Oh," she said, embarrassed, "well I only know because I'm dating him but no offense, I think the whole school does know by now."

"You're dating him?" he asked, somewhat hurt. She must have been the girl who pulled him back the day before in the parking lot.

She nodded.

He chuckled.

"Why are you laughing," she said, more of a statement than a question.

Zach looked at her, hoping that she could tell he could see right through her. "You deserve a lot better."

Before she could answer, the bell rang and he was gone and she didn't get the chance to say goodbye.

* * *

He had been going at it for a solid half an hour before he heard the door open and someone come in. He didn't stop though, just kept punching.

"Damn," the person said as they strolled into the dim light. "I haven't seen you hit that hard in ages."

Zach stopped then, and struggled to keep up his breath. He tried to speak but grabbed his water bottle that sat by the ropes instead.

"Is there something on your mind?" Greg asked.

Zach stared at the man and kept breathing heavily, taking light sips from the bottle in his hands occasionally.

"You know what sucks," Zach started but stopped for a moment, "money. Money sucks."

The larger and older man chuckled. "Yeah, money sucks."

Zach sat down in the middle of the ring, suddenly in deep thought. "Do you think girls go for guys who have a lot of money?"

Greg pondered the question for a minute, unsure of why Zach was asking. He didn't usually talk about stuff like money and girls.

Zach watched Greg think and suddenly got embarrassed. "I mean…do you think that's a factor? Like—even if the guy is a douche bag, girls will still go out with him even though he's rich?"

Greg stepped closer to the ring, and kept his eyes on Zach. "I'm sure it happens," he said sympathetically.

Zach nodded and looked away, still taking sips from his almost empty water bottle and tried to make it seem like he was only wondering and it wasn't an actual issue he had in his life. A moment of silence overtook them before Zach cleared his throat. "So I agreed to fight Josh Abrams."

He wasn't really sure of the reaction Greg would give about the news, and he had been thinking about it all day—rehearsing what he would say in his head. It was all he thought about until chemistry with Josh's unlikely girlfriend.

Surprisingly, Greg just smiled and let out a small laugh. "Now why in the hell would you agree to that guy?"

Zach felt the ends of his lips curl the tiniest bit. That's what he loved about being at the ring and having Greg in his life. While his father would have lashed out and yelled at him for agreeing to fight another kid, Greg was on Zach's side, and he felt like there was some hope of winning with Greg right there with him. He didn't want to admit that Greg was more of a father to him than his own was, because somewhere deep in his heart Zach knew his father cared, but he hadn't shown it yet, but Greg was there when his own flesh and blood wasn't.

"I don't know," he finally admitted, laughing a little now too. "You think I can take him?"

Greg nodded. "Sure as hell you can. You've already beat Hamilton this year and it's only a few months into the season."

Zach took a deep breath, feeling the cool air tickle his lips. He knew he could handle Josh physically, but he had noticed himself thinking an awful lot lately about the stupid emotional stuff; the words, the looks, _the girl._

He wasn't so sure about all that. 

* * *

Greg helped him train for about two more hours and then had left. It was only about nine at night and he knew he had homework, but Zach didn't want to go home. He soon found himself on a different subway, headed for the neighborhood next to his. He would get off there and walk the extra few blocks home and surely that would take up some time.

The air was cool and crisp, perfect for walking, perfect for thinking. Although he didn't want to, he allowed Cammie to enter his thoughts. What was it about the girl that intrigued him so much? For some reason he didn't know if the Cammie holding Josh back, Cammie hiding her face, the Cammie sitting on Josh's lap and laughing at lunch, or the Cammie in Chemistry confused him more. She was like a schizophrenic, one hour she's calm and collected, one she's mysterious, one she's confident and another she's smart and talkative. It made him exhausted thinking about it all. He had never had time for girls before, with Luke, his parents and boxing, and he understood why now. He couldn't let Josh's girlfriend distract him from fighting Josh.

Maybe Josh had planned that; for Cammie to intrigue Zach and sike him out before the fight to ensure his victory. Anger suddenly rushed through him. He wouldn't let that happen. He wouldn't think about Cammie anymore. Precision and accuracy would be the only things on his mind.

So he changed his thoughts and watched the apartment buildings go by as he walked faster towards his own. He almost didn't notice the woman across the street. She had a long coat on and carried a purse over her shoulder. He wouldn't have paid any more attention to her if someone wasn't running towards her. It was pretty dark outside but Zach could tell it was a big male, who wore all black. He kept a watchful eye as he kept walking hurriedly, but fully turned his attention to them when the man grabbed the woman by her arms and shook her violently.

Zach's mind flashed to when he saw Greg beating someone, and although he learned Greg had the gentlest soul he still didn't want anybody to get hurt, and maybe this woman would if he didn't step in.

By the time Zach had crossed the street and yelled at the man, he had thrown the woman on the ground and was on top of her, holding her cheeks with one hand while the other held her hands together. He was close to her face, and angrily whispering things to her, things Zach couldn't understand.

"Hey!" he shouted again as he ran to them, causing the man to look up. He didn't know why but once Zach got closer he grabbed the guy with enough force to pull him completely off the woman. In a moment though, the man had untangled himself from Zach's grip and started to run, leaving him alone with the woman on the ground.

Zach watched the man run away and then turned to help the woman up. She was probably the age of his own mother, and was wearing a faux fur coat.

"Are you okay mam?" Zach asked her while he helped her balance her stance.

She looked him in the eyes. "Yes, I am alright." He voice was hoarse, like she was a smoker, and her hair was brittle and a mixture of gray and caramel colored.

"Did you know that man?" he asked another question.

"Sort of," she responded emotionlessly.

He let go of her coat then. "Should I call the police?"

"No, no that won't be necessary," the woman insisted and turned to walk away. "Thank you for your help."

"Anytime," he responded, and was too shocked to continue towards his house. He didn't need to tear his thoughts of Cammie from his brain as he walked home then, the strange woman and her obvious lack of concern for the whole situation had taken the reigns.


End file.
